growing a green ... thumb

i've never been much of a gardener - much less a/n (urban) farmer, but i married a man with a magic green thumb - one who has managed to keep our (flowering) rosemary plant alive through 2 winters! this year, after some serious contemplation, we expanded our previous garden of pots sitting along our retaining wall to take-up the entire strip of land in front of the airstream. half of me was sad to see some of the minimalist qualities of our yard give way to the half of me that was excited by the idea of designing an affordable garden and growing our own food - organic and "handmade" all the way!

so, we started by building a frame and then digging/rolling-up the grass in the planting beds and using it to fill the walk-ways. we then covered the walkways with landscaping-clothe (to keep the grass from growing back) and then filled them in with gravel. we ordered a truck full of 4-5 yards of black dirt with manure and other 'organic' things.

by the 29th of april we had the main bed done and ready for planting. we also worked to make a third gravel walkway between the new bed and a narrow ground bed from the previous year. on the 3rd of may we planted numerous seeds (radish, carrots, beets, golden beets, kale, spinach & brussel-sprouts) and a few starter plants (broccoli, peppers, celery, tomato and dill plants) as well as transplanted lettuce, arugula, basil, green onion & tomato starters that souliyahn had started from seeds back in march/april.

you can see (click on image to view larger) how much the garden has transformed in the first month. from empty beds of earth to food that is ready to be eaten already! we had our first meal from the garden on june 2nd: tuna salad on a bed of baby greens & cilantro with radishes. so fresh, tasty and ...... gratifying!

2009 will the year that i can say my thumb turned a lovely shade of green. i cherish my early morning time to exercise and garden before the boys awake. it is easier to grow food than i used to think...it has taken baby steps each year for this big garden to not be so daunting. i must also say a word or two about radishes.....they are so easy to grow! they sprouted first, could almost entirely be harvested already .... but i must ask ... anybody have creative ideas/recipes for radishes????